Lint cotton cleaner



3,094,299 LllNT CGTTGN CLEANER Joe E. Salmon, Birmingham, Ala., assignor to Continental Gin Company, Birmingham, Ala, a corporation of Deiaware Filed ept. 11, 1956, Ser. No. 609,126 2 Claims. (Cl. 19-67) This invention relates to lint cleaners and in particular to a combination condenser and lint cleaner particularly adapted for use in cotton gins.

The advent of mechanical cotton harvesting methods has reduced the cost of harvesting. However, mechanical picking results in a raw product containing considerable more trash than hand picked cotton.

As a result the need for cleaning cotton, both before and after the separation of the lint from the seed, has been increased substantially. Cleaning subsequent to the ginning operation, often referred to as post ginning cleaning, or more often simply referred to as lint cleaning, due to the fact that the raw cotton lint has been separated from the seed by the gins, has become increasingly important in raising the grade of the cotton which has been relatively roughly harvested by the mechanical methods. All newer gin installations embody equipment particularly adapted for the necessary cleaning to improve the lint quality. As could be expected this equipment is correlated with the other equipment being supplied to the gin. Thus the problem of installation of the lint cleaners is considered in the designing of the complete gin. The additional space needed for the cleaners, flues, valves, fans, etc. is provided through greater fioor area etc., and the increased size of the gin and increased costs of apparatus, housing and installation are determined beforehand.

However, the provision of new gins necessitate modernization of the old not only in order to more properly handle the machine picked cotton but also in order to attract and hold business. Thus the increased need for cleaning has necessitated the modernization of existing ginning plants through the introduction of cleaning equipment sufiicient to enable the older ginning establishments to compete with the new.

The lint cleaning equipment is most desirably placed to intercept the lint between the gins and the baling presses. Therefore lint cleaners have been developed which can be so connected in existing gins. Space limitations have however in many instances rendered it extremely diflicult to add these post ginning cleaners to the-existing gins. It has often been found that the machinery within the gin must be rearranged in order to accommodate a post gin cleaner and in addition many times the building must be added to or rebuilt to provide proper installation space and support for the added equipment. The additional expense of rearranging the existing machinery and adding to the building often represents a substantial amount, and results in a much greater cost than would be necessary with equipment which could simply be installed in the existing location without major modification of the present machinery or building.

Although the art has long recognized these modernization problems no one heretofore has satisfactorily developed equipment which could be readily installed in existing space or equipment or which could be installed without an undesirable amount of fiues, valves, supports, supplementary condensers and their fans or without an undesirable increase in the distance which the lint travels before reaching the press. No one has heretofore developed a really compact unit which can be readily installed as a post ginning cleaner in existing gin plants or even in new ginning installations without a great increase in cost of installation or complexity of the resulting equip- 3,004,299 Patented Oct. 17, 1951 ment. Accordingly an object of this invention is to provide post-ginning cleaning means which embodies a minimum amount of additional machinery and which can be readily installed in existing gin installations without major modification of the existing equipment or rearrangement thereof, without substantial modification of the buildings in which such equipment is housed, and without the increase in conduit structure heretofore thought necessary.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lint cotton cleaner for use in a cotton gin which is of relatively compact size as compared to heretofore known cleaning devices.

As is well known, the usual ginning installation embodies a battery condenser adapted to receive .the lint from the gins and a press to which the lint is directed from the battery condenser. As pointed out heretofore, pre vious attempts to provide post-ginning cleaners in such installations have involved the installation of additional apparatus comprising separate condensing means as Well as the cleaning means, together with a complex arrangement of valves and conduits. In addition separate suction apparatus is also necessary to induce the proper fiowing of the lint from the gins to the lint cleaner condenser and then from the lint cleaner back to the battery condenser. In contrast, however, an object of the instant invention is to provide a lint cleaner which embodies a condensing means and a cleaning means designed to be installed in substitution for the usual battery condenser, and with which separate suction equipment and a complete arrangement of valves, and conduits are not needed.

Still another object is to provide an improved battery type lint cleaner, of a capacity to handle the entire output of a battery of gins, connected directly to the main lint flue at a point normally occupied by the battery condenser.

The need for supplemental condensers with the clean,- ers heretofore known to me has existed whether the lint cleaners were individual to the gin stands or of the battery type designed to take the output from the entire battery of gins. A further object of my invention however is to provide a combination battery condenser and lint cleaner embodying a double purpose condenser in which the foraminous condensing drum serves the dual purpose of batting the cotton received from the battery of gins on a first portion of the drum and rebatting the same cotton after passing through the lint cleaner on a second portion of the drum.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a combination battery condenser and lint cleaner having a relatively simple bypass means by means of which the lint condensed to bat form in the condenser may be sent directly to the press without passing through the lint cleaner.

Battery type lint cleaners heretofore known to me have required a considerable amount of extra lint flue ducts to connect the lint cleaners into the system. This is not only expensive but inefficient. Furthermore passage of the lint through the additional valves, elbows and many special connections required subjects the lint to a tumbling action which tends to produce a rougher sample than that which can be obtained through the use of apparatus in which a wide uniform stream once formed is not disturbed until it reaches the press box. Accordingly another object of the invention is to provide an improved lint cleaner of the type described, in which the aggregate lint cotton from the battery of gins is spread into a wide uniform stream and this wide uniform stream maintained from the time the lint reaches the first portion of the condenser drum until it reaches the press box.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional elevational view through a combination battery condenser and lint cleaner constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the lint cleaning system showing the very important direct flow relationship between the combination battery condenserlint cleaner and other component units in the system.

FIGURE 3 is .a fragmentary perspective view of the condenser and cleaner of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional elevational view through another form of combination battery condenser and lint cleaner constructed and arranged in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view of a cleaner having a different dofling means than the cleaner of FIGURE 4, and which can be used in place of the cleaner of FIG- URE 4.

Similar reference characters on .the several views indicate similar parts.

By using the same condenser drum for the dirty cotton received from the battery of gins, as well as the clean cotton received from the lint cleaning members, I have devised a most compact cleaning system which has proved to be far more efiicient .and to do a much better cleaning job, and with a minimum amount of working of the lint resulting in a better sample than obtainable with battery type lint cleaners heretofore known.

Referring now in particular to the drawings, the numeral indicates a .lint flue which connects a battery of gins 12 to a combination battery condenser-lint cleaner indicated generally at 14-. The condenser cleaner connects to a lint slide 16. The latter in turn is connected to a press 18. The lint slide and press are well known in the art.

In the older gin installations the cotton flowed normally through a main or trunk flue such as 10 to a battery condenser, from which it was dropped into the press. The heretofore known cleaners designed to be installed in the older gins, as pointed out above, comprise units which must be connected into the flue 10, intermediate the gins and battery condenser, whereas with the instant invention the older battery condenser is removed and a combination battery condenser-lint cleaner put in place thereof. With the instant apparatus the aggregate lint put out by the battery of gins is delivered through the flue 10 to the battery condenser-lint cleaner, after which it is discharged into the lint slide 16 on which it slides to the press 13.

The combination battery condenser-lint cleaner, which I have devised, comprises a foraminous condenser drum 2t} enclosed in a casing 22 and a cleaning means 24 also enclosed in a casing 25. The casings can be formed in the usual way known in the art. The casings include partition means extending laterally of the casing, as well as air inlets, as illustrated in the drawings and described hereinafter. Casings 22 and 25, as in the form illustrated, can be a single casing or they can be formed as separate casings and assembled during installation.

The portion of the casing enclosing the condenser drum is divided longitudinally by flexible sealing strips 26 and 28. Strips 26 and 28 extend laterally the width of the casing and divide the casing adjacent the condenser drum into a first condensing compartment 30 and a second condensing compartment 32. These seal strips are formed of rubber coated cloth or sheet material as is known in the art. They are attached at spaced points to the adjacent casing structure, such as to casing wall 33, and bear against drum 20. The drum construction and cooperating casing structure at the drum ends is well known in the art. The first compartment 30 has an inlet 34 which is connected to flue 10 through means of a spreader transition 36. During normal operation the airborne lint cotton passes from the lint flue 10 through the spreader transition 36 through the first inlet 34 and into the first compartrnent 30. As the lint passes through the spreader transition 36 it is spread into a relatively wide, uniform stream and deposited in the form of a bat upon the upper arc 38 of condenser drum 20. The hat of lint thus formed is passed outwardly of the first compartment by means of a pair of dofling rollers composed of a flighted stripper roller 4% having a plurality of flexible wipers 42 mounted thereon and a plain roller 44. The bat of lint is stripped oil? the drum 20 by roller 40*. Such structure is well known. A seal strip 45 cooperates with roller 44 to close compartment 30. Strip 45 is of the same construction as strips 26 and 28.

The dofiing rollers 40 and 44 form a first outlet 46 leading outwardly from compartment 32. The bat thus discharged from compartment 30 turns downwardly under the influence of gravitation.

A pair of compressing and feeding rolls 48 are located soas to receive the discharged bat. Rolls 48 are mounted in parallel relation on shafts 50 suitably journaled in the casing ends 52. A pair of drawing rolls 54 are mounted in a similar manner below rolls 48. It should be noted, however, that the pair of rolls 54 are set in closer relationship one to the other than rolls 48. The drive arrangement is such that the peripheral speed of rolls 54 is somewhat greater than that of rollers 48 so that the bat of cotton is progressively compressed to a greater degree and drawn into a thinner bat as it passes between the two pairs of rollers 48 and 54 respectively. Below the rolls 54 there is a feed plate 56 and a fluted feed roller 58, both of which are Well known in the art. Immediately below and adjacent the fluted feed roller 58 and the feed plate 56 there is a rotatable saw cylinder 60, which is mounted on a shaft 62 and suitably journaled in the casing ends 52. Saw cylinder 60 can be made up of spaced individual saw discs mounted on a shaft at a slight inclination to the shaft and suitably clamped to maintain this position or can be of the construction commonly known as a lickerin cylinder, both of which are well known in the art. Mounted within the frame formed by casing ends .52 and extending parallel to saw cylinder 60 in closely spaced relationship thereto are a plurality of stripper bars 64. These stripper bars, five of which are shown-- although this number may vary, are disposed parallel to and closely adjacent the saw cylinder in spaced relation to each other about the downwardly turning arc of the saw cylinder as shown in the drawings.

As the relatively thin bat of cotton passes downwardly between the feeding and compressing rolls and between .the feedplate and the fluted feed roller, the lint fibers are combed off by the teeth of the saws and the fibers are swept past the edges of the stripper bars where the commmgled dirt and trash particles are dislodged by a combination of centrifugal force and the impact of the fiber ends against the bars. The dirt and trash fall into a hop- .per 66 which extends longitudinally the full length of the machine. Dirt and trash thus discharged into the hopper can be withdrawn by a suction fan or any other suitable means. On the opposite side of the saw cylinder and mounted in dofling relationship thereto, is a rotatable impeller 68 mounted on shaft 70 and journaled on the casing ends 52. The impeller 68 can be of any suitable varied construction but preferably is of the dofling brush constructionwell known in the art.

Impeller 68 is partially enclosed by outer casing portion 72 and forms with inner casing portion 74 a second flue 76. Flue 76 is open to the atmosphere at the head end through mouth 78 and openings 80 in the casing ends 52.

The second flue 76 opens into the second compartment 32 through second inlet 82. As the cleaned lint is dotted off the saws by impeller 68 it is carried around flue 76 and into the second compartment by the vehicle air induced through open mouth 78 by the rotation of impeller 63 and deposited in the form of a bat on the lower are 86 of condenser drum 20.

It will be seen in the drawings that the condenser drum 20 rotates in the direction indicated by arrow 88 and the lint thus deposited on the lower are 86 of drum 20 will be carried to a second set of dofling rolls composed of the well known flighted stripper roller 90 and plain roll 92 by means of which the bat is stripped from the screen and passed outwardly of the second compartment 32 through the second lint outlet 94. The bat of lint then passes downwardly by gravitation into the lint slide 16 and thence to the press 18.

The vehicle air conveying the lint cotton into the first compartment 30, as well as the vehicle air conveying the lint into the second compartment 32 passes through the foraminous screen 96 into the interior 98 of condenser drum 20 and thence outwardly of the casing through discharge flue 100, which is open to the atmosphere generally through the back wall of the gin building.

In the normal operation of the invention the lint flows in a steady stream from the battery of gins 12 through the lint flue into compartment 30 and then through the lint cleaning means 24, after which it is returned to the lower are 86 of the condenser drum 20 as set out above.

In the event the lint coming from the gins is sufficiently clean as to not require further cleaning, I have provided a simple bypass slide 102 which can be pivoted on the front wall 104 by means of a piano type hinge 106 as shown. Should it become desirable to bypass the cleaning section of the invention the bypass slide 102 is moved to the position indicated by the dotted line 108. Slide 102 has a flange 110 adapted to support the slide on doffer pin 112 when in the dotted line position. It is apparent that with the bypass slide in this position the bat leaving upper compartment 30 through the first outlet 46 will be intercepted and prevented from entering the cleaning section between rollers 48. The bat will then slide by gravitation down the bypass slide 102 over the front wall 104 and thence downward into the lint slide 16.

It should be noted that the bypass slide 102 is of a length substantially the same as the inside distance between the casing ends 52 so that when the bypass slide is in the bypass position the casing ends form with it a complete chute to guide the cotton properly over the front wall 104 Many battery condensers are supported from the building superstructure such as the roof trusses. it is accordingly obvious that the combination battery condenserlint-cleaner can be mounted on supporting frame 114, which in turn can be fastened to the superstructure 116 by means of hanger rods 118. It is equally obvious that legs or support columns can be extended from the supporting frame members 114 downward to the floor for added support in the event the superstructure is not considered strong enough, as might be the case in some of the older wooden gin buildings.

Referring now to FIGURE 4 there is there illustrated another form of combination battery condenser and lint cleaner constructed in accordance with the invention. In this form of the invention the condenser casing 120 and the cleaner casing 122 are formed as separate casings and are connected by a hopper-like cleaner feed casing 124 and a lint fiue (transfer means) 126.

The cleaner means within the casing 122 comprises paired compressing and feeding rollers 128, paired drawing rollers 130 and 132 and a feed roller 134. The latter cooperates with a feed plate 136. These instrumentalities feed the cotton bat to a saw cylinder 138 and operate in the same manner as their corresponding elements in the form of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 1. The saw cylinder 138 cooperates with stripper bars 140. A doifer 142 removes the cleaned lint from the saw cylinder and moves the lint through a lint flue 144. Flue 144 merges with flue 126. Opening 146 in the flue 144 and opening 148 in the casing provide for the introduction of clean air into flue 144. Air also is admitted through opening 150. The cleaning means further comprises a trash hopper 152. The operation of the cleaning means is obviously the same as in the form of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 1. a

A rotatable foraminous drum 154 is mounted within the condenser casing 120. This drum is adapted to receive lint from the main battery lint flue 156. The latter corresponds to flue 10. The lint received from flue 156 is directed upwardly through transition 158 and inlet 160 into a first compartment 162 where it deposits upon the foraminous drum 154. The drum is evacuated to atmosphere through its ends, as is well known.

When the drum is rotated in a direction indicated by arrow 164 the lint deposited upon the drum will be carried to a set of doffing rolls comprising the flighted strips per roller 166 and the plain roller 168. These remove the cotton in a bat form. The cotton bat will slide downwardly on a slide 170 within casing 124 and be received between the pressing and feeding rollers 12 8.

The lint discharged from the cleaner is transferred to a second compartment 172 and directed on to the upper arc of the rotatable foraminous drum. Flue 126, as previously mentioned, is preferably of a width substantially the same as that of the condenser drum.

Lint deposited upon the upper arc of the drum in the second compartment 172 is removed by a second set of dofling rollers. The second set of dofling rollers comprises the fiighted stripper roller 174 and plain rollers 176 and 178. The removed hat of lint is deposited onto press slide 180 and delivered to press 182.

Sealing strips 184, 186 and 188 cooperate with their respectively adjacent rollers in sealing the compartments. 7

The combined condenser and lint cleaner is adapted to be supported on a supporting frame 190 which is substantially similar to frame 114.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 4 the rotatable foraminous drum 154 and its cooperating dofling means are mounted for rotation in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. When the drum is rotated as indicated by arrow 164 the lint passes through the cleaner. When the drum is rotated in the direction indicated by arrow 192 the cleaner is bypassed. When rotated in the latter direction the cotton lint deposited upon the foraminous drum 154 in the bottom arc thereof is moved upwardly to the right, and removed by the stripper roller 174 in cooperation with the plain roller 176.

The cleaning apparatus and the condensing apparatus in both forms of the invention are preferably driven by a separate drive means since the speed of the operating elements of the two units, as is well known, are considerably different. Preferably utilizing modern techniques, the cleaning means and the condensing means are driven by separate electric motors. In the apparatus of FIGURE 4 the condensing instrumentalities comprising the drum and the stripper rollers are driven by a reversible motor 194. Thus the cleaning means can be bypassed with the apparatus of FIGURE 4 simply by reversing the condenser drive motor. The reason for the two rollers 176 and 178 is thus apparent. One cooperates with the flighted stripper roller 174 when the drum is driven in one direction, and the other when the drum is driven in the opposite direction.

The advantages of the combination battery condenserlint cleaner are many and this fact will be recognized by those familiar with the problems of adding such equipment to existing gin outfits. The fact that the entire unit takes very little more space than the common battery condenser alone is sufiicient in itself to insure relatively easy installation in outfits where installation of lint cleaners has heretofore been very diflicult.

While I have shown and described a lint cleaner in which'an impeller, such as a vaned doffing brush, is used to doff the saws, I do not wish to restrict the invention to mechanical .doifing. A lint cleaner having air blast doffing for the saws can be constructed in accordance with :the invention. In such a cleaner an air blast nozzle would be set in the Well known dofling relationship with the saws and air forced therethrough by a separate fan, carrying the cleaned lint from .the saw cylinder into the second condensing compartment.

One form of lint cleaner having an air blast ,dofiing means is illustrated in FIGURE 5. With this type of dofier the brush cylinder 142 and flue 144 of FIG. 4, for example, is replaced by the air inlet 200, the nozzle discharge 201, the flue 202, the casing 203 and the plenum chamber 204. Flue 126 is altered so as to connect the flue 202. The operation is obvious to one skilled in the art.

The patents to McGinn, 947,214, I an. 18, 1.910, Fallon, 970,482, Sept. 20, 1910, and Phelps, 1,013,053, Dec. 26, 1911, show forms of air .blast dofiers of an earlier era and illustrate that these have been used in the art for many years.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have devised a system and apparatus for .cleaning the aggregate lint cotton from a battery of gins, in which only one condenser is used to do the work heretofore done by at least two separate condensers. Further, I have devised a compact cleaner which conforms to the direct line flow of lint from the main lint flue to the press. This assures evenly packed bales as compared to the big ended bales usually resulting from the use of battery type lint cleaners heretofore known, that have to be installed in offset relationship with the lint flue and press, which tends to make the cotton flow more heavily to one end of the battery condenser and press than to the other. With the instant invention cotton is passed in a wide uniform stream from the condenser in the condenser-cleaner through the cleaner and into the press.

While I have shown and described the preferred form of my invention it will be understood that variations in details of form may be made without departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims. The words lint, cotton trash or dirt in the specifications are not used to limit the invention to the cleaning of lint cotton. The invention can obviously be used to clean other fibers.

'1 claim:

1. Apparatus for cleaning the aggregate lint cotton ginned by a battery of gins comprising a lint 'fiue adapted to be connected to a battery of gins and receive the lint output from said battery, a lint cleaning means, a condenser, said condenser being connected to said fiue, a lint transfer means connected to said condenser for transferring lint from said condenser to a press, said condenser comprising a rotatable drum having a for-aminous surface, said lint flue being connected to said condenser to deposit cotton along a first portion of said foraminous surface of said drum, a first dotting means for removing the lint from said first portion of said surface of said drum and conveying said lint to said cleaning means, second dofi'ing means for removing said lint from said cleaning means and depositing said lint on a second portion of said foraminous surface of said drum, third dofiing means for removing the lint from said second portion of said drum, said third doffing means being connected to said lint transfer means for feeding the lint to a press, and means normally connected to said cleaner and movable into operative relationship with said first means for removing the lint for transferring said lint directly from said first means and for removing the lint to said lint transfer means.

2. In combination, a rotatable drum condensing means adapted to separate lint from conveying air streams, cleaning means, means for directing lint on to a first portion of said drum, means for removing lint from said first portion of said drum and transferring said lint to said cleaning means, means for removing lint from said cleaning means and transferring said lint to a second portion of said drum, means for removing said lint from said second portion of said drum and transferring said lint to a lint slide, and means for transferring lint from said first portion of said drum directly to said lint slide including a movably mounted lint slide movable into association with the first mentioned means for removing lint from said drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,593 Schofield July 21, 193'! 1,886,044 Quinn et al. Nov. 1, 1932 2,532,330 Ramsdell Dec. 5, 1950 2,704,862 Moss Mar. 29, 1955 2,747,235 Wallace May 29, 1956 2,803,044 Streun Aug. 20, 1957 

